The Avengers Weakness

Chapter Twenty-Four

Two weeks later, Penny was sitting in her room with her legs crossed, looking at herself in the mirror, her eyes lingering on the large blue bruise that was on her arm. Brad had roughly grabbed her arm earlier that day, he'd been squeezing it harder than he usually did and there was a clear outline of his hand on her upper arm. Now that she didn't live with him anymore and he couldn't pick on her there, he settled on physically bullying her. It had started with the usual names and comments, and the pinching or shoving when no one was really looking, tripping her, pulling her hair. Now it was rougher pinching, he actually shoved her to the floor yesterday, she had to lie and say she shifted wrong in her desk to her computer teacher. He hadn't hit her like he used to, but that was probably because they were at school and someone would see it if he did. But it didn't stop there, Chris, who always snickered and helped him in their technology class, was also in her Geometry class with Dave, they picked at her constantly in class. There were smaller bruises on her sides as well from being elbowed or pinched by her cousin and his friend, she felt like she still lived with him sometimes, she hated it. She also hadn't really made friends, she was too shy and everyone seemed to avoid her for some reason. David sat with her at lunch, he had actually stopped bullying her for once, but he still made his little comments about her being weird. Liz was also in her French class, because apparently she wanted an extra foreign language, and she sat right behind her. She was always saying really mean things about how she looked, how Peter would be better off if she went back where she came from, how no one wanted her around, and she always made sure to tell her to stay away from her brother. Penny tried to do what her brother's girlfriend wanted, but she couldn't stay away from him. She lived with him for crying out loud, their bedrooms were connected, she saw him every day several times a day. She heard a knock at her door and pulled a sweater on over her head.

"Come in!" she called.

Natasha opened the door, "Hi sweetie."

"Hi Miss Nat." the teenager replied, adjusting the sleeves of her sweater.

"Just Nat is a fine sweetheart, but Strange is here and has agreed to check you out now. He can get you an inhaler until Tony and Pepper can get you into an asthma specialist."

"Okay," Penny replied, standing up, she adjusted the sweater over her hands and tucked them into the pockets of her skirt.

Natasha looked down at her, "Are you okay sweetheart?" she asked

"Huh? Oh... yeah I'm okay." she replied.

"Okay," Nat responded, she didn't believe her.

Natasha had noticed her behavior, she'd been resorting back to old behavior. She flinched whenever someone moved too fast or raised their voices in the slightest. She'd stopped doing that for the most part a few weeks into living with them, but she had started doing it again last week. She'd lock herself in her room for a few hours after school, claiming to do homework, but Kate had remembered that Penny did her homework when she finished other school work and when she was at lunch. They kept telling the girl she could talk to them, but she seemed to be withdrawing into herself and it broke Natasha's heart. Once they reached the medbay where Stephen Strange was waiting for them, she felt Penny freeze next to her. She looked down at the girl and noticed she was shaking a little.

"Sweetheart what's wrong?" she asked, placing her hand on her shoulder.

"H-he's here." she whispered.

Natasha frowned at the statement, "Who's here?" she asked, she noticed Penny was backing away a little.

Stephen looked up at them and waved, and Penny flinched hard next to her, he quickly frowned at her behavior.